After losing back-to-back games on May 2 and May 3, the Indians baseball team won both games in a doubleheader against GFW on May 6 in Sleepy Eye.

The start of the first game did not look hopeful for the Indians after the Thunderbirds hit four base hits in the top of the first inning. But this resulted in only one run and Sleepy Eye caught up in the third when Matt Schroepfer, Sam Hirschboeck, and Austin Fisher all had base hits which brought in three runs for the Indians.

Senior John Mangen was the key player in the win. He threw nine strikeouts as pitcher and didn’t walk a single player. He also went 2-4 at bat, with one double, one run scored, and 2 RBI.

“We hit the ball well today, and played good defense,” coach Aaron Nesvold said. “John pitched very well and we were able to get the timely hits that we lacked at the end of last week.”

Stats

Pitching: John Mangen 7 IP, 9 K, 2 R, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB.

Other: Austin Fischer 2-4, 3 RBI;

Mangen 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI.

In the second game, the Indians once again took an early lead from base hits by Matt Berkner and John Mangen, but GFW gained the lead after they scored three runs in the second inning. Two of the three runs were scored due to wild pitches by Sleepy Eye.

In the top of the sixth, a single by Hirschboeck was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Austin Fischer to get Hirschboeck to second. Then, it was Dylan Klein and Marc Riederer’s turn to hit base hits which resulted in two runs. Finally, Brandon Polesky hit a double which secured another run for the Indians.

But the most exciting part of the game was when Mangen put two balls over the back fence in the third inning, only the hits were too far to the left and were called fouls.

Mangen said he wished he straightened those hits out a bit in order to get the Indian’s first home run of the season.

“I couldn’t move up in the box any farther,” Mangen said. “I mean, a split second and that’s gone.”